"...the hills of western Maine,.....where the subtle matters and the spectacular distracts."Bernd Heinrich in A Year in the Maine Woods

Friday, March 28, 2008

A night at the Bluebird

Today, my cousin Texican wrote about country music and posted a mighty fine country song that he wrote. Songwriters are blessed with a gift to be able to conjure up an image, an emotion and a story and to package it with a beat and a melody that makes people want to sing along. If I had 3 wishes, one of them would be, just one time, to create a song that made people laugh and cry and sing along.One of my many favorite country songs is about country music songwriters. It's called 16th Avenue and it's written by Tom Schuyler and was made popular by Lacy J. Dalton.

From the corners of the countryFrom the cities and the farmsWith years and years of livingTucked up underneath their arms

They walk away from everythingJust to see a dream come trueSo God bless the boys who make the noiseOn 16th Avenue

With a million dollar spiritAnd an old flattop guitarThey drive to town with all they ownIn a hundred dollar car

'Cause one time someone told themAbout a friend of a friend they knewWho owns, you know, a studioOn 16th Avenue

Now some were born to moneyThey've never had to say "survive"And others swing a 9 pound hammerJust to stay alive

There's cowboys, drunks and ChristiansMostly white and black and blueThey've all dialed the phone collect to homeFrom 16th Avenue

Ah, but then one night in some empty roomWhere no curtains ever hungLike a miracle some golden wordsRolled off of someone's tongue

And after years of being nothingThey're all looking right at youAnd for awhile they'll go in styleOn 16th Avenue

It looks so uneventfulSo quiet and discreetBut a lot of lives were changedDown on that little one way street

'Cause they walk away from everythingJust to see a dream come trueSo God bless the boys who make the noiseOn 16th Avenue

16th Avenue in Nashville is called the heartbeat of Nashville's Music Row. Another place that most aspiring country songwriters dream of is the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. Last summer when we went to visit another favorite cousin outside of Nashville, C was able to go to the Bluebird and perform two songs that he had written.

The Bluebird has an Open Mic night for songwriters every Monday. The doors open at 5:30 but the line of hopefuls forms long before that.

Some of the performers are really good, some not so much, but each one of them is living a dream up there on the stage at the Bluebird. C had number 13. There had been several sub-optimal performances before his number was called and people at the tables had begun to be restless and talk to one another--but within a few chords, he had the audience following his every word--a high school english teacher from Maine living a dream on the stage at the Bluebird.

4 comments:

Thanks Cuz,Great post. I did learn that song for you, but I haven't sung it in a while. I'm going to break out the Big Baby Taylor and wail a little as soon as I finish this. Got something else I'm going to have to try now. I can't let Charlie get ahead of me.

You would enjoy the Bluebird--sometimes it takes two tries to get on stage. If they don't get to your number, they give you a stamped coupon and you get called early the next time you come. Charlie had two tries about 3 years apart--but he hung on to that coupon and it worked!

I know that song. I am not much of a country music listener, but do like that one and love her voice. You always have such great stories and I get the moral...keep on trying and reaching for your dream! Thanks, Beth.

Links to the finer things

Hi, My name is

and I live in a small town in the mountains of western Maine. My stories are about all that is around me--family and nature and mountains and hiking and books and food and anything else that catches my fancy. Welcome.